Various Artists - J Jazz Vol. 4: Deep Modern Jazz from Japan - The Nippon Columbia Label 1968 -1981 3LP
With "J Jazz Volume 4", the BBE J Jazz Bullet Train continues its journey traversing the expansive landscape of modern Japanese jazz. "Volume 4" is the latest in the universally praised compilation series exploring the best, rarest and most innovative jazz to emerge from the Far East. Please take your seats for a first-class ticket to J Jazz central.
This latest station stop off is with the famed Nippon Columbia label, one of the biggest labels in Japan, whose jazz output embraces every possible style imaginable. Focussing on the key years 1968-1981, "J Jazz Volume 4" sees compilers Tony Higgins and Mike Peden dig even deeper into their record collections and pull-out tracks that span styles ranging from solo to big band, jazz classical interpretations and heavy jazz rock, to febrile post-bop, white hot samba fusion, and modal psychedelic wig-outs.
"J Jazz Volume 4" features icons such as drum master Takeo Moriyama, keyboard magi Hiromasa Suzuki, Fumio Itabashi, and Masahiko Satoh, and guitar wizards Kazumi Watanabe and Kiyoshi Sugimoto, alongside big band maestros and innovators Nobuo Hara and his Sharps and Flats, and Toshiyuki Miyama’s New Herd. Thunderous basslines nestle alongside glistening runs of electric piano, bubbling synths and air-tight drumming as the heavy psychedelic modal blues of Jiro Inagaki flows with the infectious samba grooves of Takashi Mizuhashi featuring Herbie Hancock; Shigeharu Mukai’s fusion funk epics take the music to another level and Mikio Masuda’s driving keyboard rhythms brings the heat to an incendiary dancefloor zone.
Tracklist:
1. Exchange [Takeo Moriyama]
2. The Ground for Peace [Jiro Inagaki & His Soul Media]
3. Chakkiri-Bushi [Nobuo Hara & His Sharps & Flats / Hozan Yamamoto]
4. Trial Road [Tomoki Takahashi]
5. A Muddy Muffin [Masahiko Sato]
6. Samba de Negrito [Takashi Mizuhashi & Herbie Hancock]
7. Scramble [Hiromasa Suzuki]
8. Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun [Nobuo Hara & His Sharps & Flats]
9. Toppu [Shigeharu Mukai]
10. Ogi Denju-shiki [Toshiyuki Miyama & His New Herd]
11. Jones Street [Kiyoshi Sugimoto]
12. Mickey's Samba [Mikio Masuda]
13. By the Red Stream [Hiromasa Suzuki, Jiro Inagaki & His Big Soul Media]
14. Kaleidoscope (Edit) [Mickie Yoshino & Kazumi Watanabe]
About this product: this release is pressed on 3x black vinyl.